Crescent Nebula

An HOO treatment of the Crescent Nebula, where the emissions of the Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms are displayed as Red/Yellow and Blue light.

Looking like a brain floating in space, the Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago.

The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.

Image aligned, integrated and colour mapped by Arc Fortnight, original data downloaded from Martin Pugh Astrophotography.